The present invention relates to manufacturing procedure control methods, and in particular to methods and systems for testing control.
A common procedure in manufacturing object lots, such as semiconductor manufacturing materials, includes sequential steps of dispatching, transporting, testing, loading, and processing. Productivity depends on the degree of automation in manufacturing procedure control. For high-technology manufacturers, such as semiconductor manufacturers, manufacturing tools are expensive. Therefore, certain tests of object lots prior to loading in a manufacturing tool are performed to ensure that all the loaded object lots are ready for processing. For example, a MES track in check verifies if the object lots are matched with the records in a MES (Manufacturing Execution System) database. A constraint check verifies if the operating parameters of the object lots are correct.
The mentioned tests are typically time-consuming. Thus, object lots may remain idle for an excessive period of time in front of a manufacturing tool for testing, meanwhile, the manufacturing tool is idle while waiting to conduct the tests. Clearly, implementation of a continuous manufacturing procedure is a critical issue.
Some applications have been developed to improve manufacturing procedures. The disclosed applications primarily focus on manufacturing equipment. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,351,723 discloses a failure diagnostic method for diagnosing equipment failure based on an operating state thereof. In U.S. Pat. No. 6,351,723, operating parameters are obtained in time series and selected for calculation. A value of a deviation process capability is calculated according to the operating parameters and the failure of the equipment is determined based on the value of the deviation process capability.
The improvement seen in the manufacturing tool testing, however, cannot contribute significantly to the entire manufacturing procedure.